By Mike McClary

Posts tagged “Gary Sheffield”

Tigers Record: 0-0 Today’s Game: Tigers @ Yankees | 1:10 p.m. ET | On the air: ESPN HD, FSD, AM 1270 & 97.1 FM Pitching Matchup Justin Verlander vs. LHP CC Sabathia Tigers History Lesson Birthdays Tracy Jones, 50 Bill Denehy, 65 On this Date in Tigers History 2009 — The Tigers released Gary Sheffield, who is one home run shy of 500 for his career. Sheffield, a 9-time All-Star, is 25th on the all-time home run list and 27th in RBI (1,633). He was owed more than $10 million in ’09. 1998 — The Tigers defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the new franchise’s first game, 11-6. Justin Thompson went six innings for the win, and Luis Gonzalez went yard for the…

So Gary Sheffield is calling it quits. Had he not played for the Tigers, I wouldn’t give this much thought, but he did, so I do. That’s because there’s been no other Tigers player in my lifetime that has left me wanting more than Sheff. Sure it would’ve been nice to see something, anything from the likes of Edgar Renteria, Juan Gonzalez or Fernando Vina, but Gary Sheffield was a superstar at just about every stop in his career — and he was bringing his act to Detroit. This was a once-in-a-generation opportunity. But a collision with Placido Polanco in July 2007 essentially ended what was shaping up to be a Sheff-like season: .265, 25 home runs and 75 RBI over 133 games. His…

Would it surprise you to learn that in his six-plus years as Tigers’ GM, Randy Smith made 60 trades? To offer some perspective, from 1983-95, the year Smith took over the front office, the Tigers made 62 deals — roughly the same number of trades in twice the time. On this date in 1997, Smith made a pair of humdingers during the Expansion Draft: On this date in 1997, the Tigers acquired righthander Matt Drews and infielders Joe Randa and Gabe Alvarez from the Diamondbacks for infielder Travis Fryman. The D-backs turned around and peddled Fryman to the Indians. The Tigers also acquired righthander Tim Worrell and outfielder Trey Beamon from the Padres for lefthanders Dan Miceli and Donne Wall and infielder Ryan Balfe.…

Welcome to The Detroit Tigers Podcast. This is Episode #123, a 70-minute podcast about the Detroit Tigers recorded live from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Asheville, N.C. In this episode we touch on: Will Rhymes, internet sensation? Rhymes v. Scott Sizemore Should Carlos Guillen stay or go? Miguel Cabrera, MVP? 2011 schedule released; highlights and observations Most 100-loss seasons since 1973? Your Detroit Tigers! …and much more. Show Notes Links to articles and items referenced in this episode: Fake Gary Sheffield Twitter account Former Tigers DH Keith Moreland on the University of Texas football radio broadcast team Download the audio file or grab the RSS feed here. Comments? Leave a message on the listener line: (602) 903-5174. Or, reach us on Twitter: @TigersPodcast We’ve also got…

On Monday, Sports Illustrated‘s Jon Heyman wrote a column in which he highlights the top-20 decisions made by MLB teams in the past year. In Heyman’s view, the Tigers made two of the top decisions: 3. The Tigers’ acquisition of Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer and Phil Coke in the three-team trade with the Yankees and Diamondbacks for Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson. This was the most unpopular of moves at the time in Detroit. It’s way early to say for sure, but as of today it looks boffo, with Granderson starting slowly (.240 average) in New York and Jackson (4-6, 5.05 ERA) doing the same in Arizona. Austin Jackson is a Rookie of the Year candidate, providing Gold Glove-type defense, perhaps the most valuable…

Wow. So that’s how the Dontrelle Willis Era ends in Detroit? With him being designated for assignment? Who thought he’d be the Tigers’ version of Brian Glynn*? In my post from Saturday in which a I speculated about the fallout from Max Scherzer‘s recall, an anonymous commenter was stunned — to the point of calling me a dufus! — that I didn’t include Dontrelle in the list of possible roster moves. I suppose that’s fair. But here are the two reasons why I thought the Tigers would stick with Willis come hell or high water: